Whether you love them or hate them, the next eight weeks are widely regarded as something of a challenge. Holidays. Family. Bad weather. Trips to the mall. Schlepping kids all over creation. Lots of turkey and mashed potatoes.To survive, you need to keep some spice in your life. Start with some nice Zinfandel, and throw a pot of chili or pasta on the stove. It will keep you going during the darkening days of winter.
Here are two highly affordable Zinfandels for you to consider:
2009 Ravenswood Zinfandel Old Vine Vintners Blend (suggested retail $10; available in market for $7-$13) This very good QPR Zinfandel has smooth black cherry and
blackberry aromas. You'll find the same fruits in the flavors, along with a smoky, spicy aftertaste. The wine has fine tannins, giving it an impression that is fruit-forward, but not too jammy.2010 McManis Family Vineyards Zinfandel (suggested retail $11.99; available in market for $9-$14) Pure of taste and light on its feet, this is all about the blackberries in the aromas and flavors. There are nice spicy and pepper notes in the aftertaste, too. At 13.5% ABV, this is not a monster of a wine, but a lovely reminder of how Zinfandel can be elegant. Excellent QPR for around $12.
Full Disclosure: I received samples of these wines for possible review.
7 comments:
I love using Zinfandel for cooking my winter meals. Short ribs or a hearty beef stew with a cup or so of Zin cooked in - it adds so much depth!
Couldn't agree more--Zin Braised Short Ribs are the BEST!
I like taste for Zin.
Love zin! Lately I'm loving it even more as part of a nice rich red blend. Although the wine industry is churning out a new one every day; there are some great ones out there such as The Prisoner or the relatively inexpensive Apothic Red
Will you be doing a 2011 edition of Thanksgiving wine recommendations? If no, I'll just go back to the 2010 list :) Thanks for all the advice!
Oh; and I almost forgot Bogle Phantom and Clayhouse Adobe Red.
Hey there, just found you. We're following you now! My friend and I are military wives and we wrote a Spanish cookbook, we chronicled it on my blog about my family's life in Spain, called Spain Is My Happy Place. Our cookbook is called The Drinking Girls' Guide to Spanish Food and now that we are starting our 2nd, we decided to start our blog, TheDrinkingGirls.com.We will be adding you to our blog roll! Cheers, Ashleigh & Tiffani, The Drinking Girls
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